God Will Answer

And the Lord said, “Listen to what the unjust judge says. And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?” (Luke 18:6-8)

As Jesus concludes the Parable of the Persistent Widow, he makes the point that if the unjust judge dispenses justice, how much more will God bring about perfect justice. This encouraging promise comes from the lips of our Lord as a gift to us as His praying people! God bestows justice! God’s people are told to earnestly cry out to Him both day and night. This is their privilege, this is their duty, and for this He has promised mercy. We are to wrestle with God in our prayers, giving ourselves no respite from our endeavors. Furthermore, we must not become discouraged if His hand should tarry. Paul tells us in Galatians:

Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.
(Galatians 6:9-10)

God desires for us to believe that He has our best interest at heart. Our Father wants us to approach Him both humbly and boldly with our requests. David writes:

I will bow down toward your holy temple and will praise your name for your love and your faithfulness, for you have exalted above all things your name and your word. When I called, you answered me; you made me bold and stouthearted. (Psalm 138:2-3)

While the widow’s persistence was displeasing to the unjust judge, our persistence in prayer is pleasing to God. We must not become weary in our waiting or in our wailing. Discouragement and fear display our lack of faith. This is perhaps why Jesus closes the parable as He does:

“However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?”
(Luke 18:8)

Take It to Heart

God’s divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires. For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
(2 Peter 1:3-8)

“(Why does God) bother to speak to us? The truly staggering answer that the Bible gives to this question is that God’s purpose in revelation is to make friends with us. It was to this end that he created us rational beings, bearing his image, able to think and hear and speak and love; he wanted there to be genuine personal affection and friendship, two-sided, between himself and us–a relation, not like that between a man and his dog, but like that of a father to his child, or a husband to his wife. Loving friendship between two persons has no ulterior motive; it is an end in itself. And this is God’s end in revelation. He speaks to us simply to fulfill the purpose for which we were made; that is, to bring into being a relationship in which he is a friend to us, and we to him, he finding his joy in giving us gifts and we finding ours in giving him thanks”.
(J. I. Packer, God Has Spoken)

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